Race Rap: Monday, April 6

McLaren loses in Japan. The better driver beat the better car(s) as Max Verstappen claimed a fourth straight Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka with Red Bull. A masterful qualifying lap put the Dutchman on pole position and then he resisted all efforts by Lando Norris – and his wingman Oscar Piastri – to claim the W. The top six finishers ran to the flag in the same order as they sat on the grid, as Norris holds a one-point advantage in the F1 pointscore.

Ferrari and Audi share success. The wins were split at the season opener for the GT World Challenge Australia at Phillip Island. Jaxon Evans and Elliott Schutte shared a Ferrari 296 to lead from start to finish for Arise Racing on Saturday, while Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney hit back to take the win on Sunday in an Audi R8.

Records fall at The Bend. Damien Harris ran a stunning 3.683-second pass at 534.23km/h to re-write the Top Fuel benchmark at the Riverbend Nationals at The Bend. But it was Wayne Newby who took the prize with victory over Harris in the final.

Desert success. Dale Martin and new navigator Adrian Rowe were the winners at the opening even of the Australian Off-Road Championship, the Pooncarie Desert. After running strongly in third on the first day of the event they eventually took top spot ahead of Danny Brown and George Apted after 400 kilometres of competition.

New boss at PremiAir. One-time motorsport journalist Gwyn Dolphin, who rose to executive ranks at the Toyota team in Formula One, is the new CEO of PremiAir Racing. More recently he has been a sports administrator and major events manager in Perth.

GT40 makes a fortune. A huge fan of the Le Mans winning Ford GT40s has just paid more than $21.8 million to put one in their garage. The car, which raced at Le Mans in 1966 was sold by the Indianapolis museum as it clears a number of its non-core vehicles to fund a building project at The Brickyard.

Taylor climbs high. Molly Taylor swapped forest tracks for twisty Tasmanian tarmac for her latest win. She clocked the quickest time at the 31 Bends of Barrington hillclimb driving - what else? - a Subaru WRX for her long-time rally backer Craig Brooks.